He's always talking about Del Potro as this incredible specimen who will be winning lots of Slams and will be giving nightmares to all the top guys. He's said this several times before and said it again this week. I've never seen him say this about any other player on the tour at any point. It's like Del Potro is his younger brother or something with the way he talks about him and hyping him? Federer seems to really like him a lot.

He's always talking about Del Potro as this incredible specimen who will be winning lots of Slams and will be giving nightmares to all the top guys. He's said this several times before and said it again this week. I've never seen him say this about any other player on the tour at any point. It's like Del Potro is his younger brother or something with the way he talks about him and hyping him? Federer seems to really like him a lot.

Nadal said similar words.
They both see DelPo's potential as do a few other tennis fans.

Del Potro is the ONLY player other than Nadal who has ever beaten Federer in a Slam final and, other than Djokovic, the only player ever to beat him in his hometown tourney, Basel plus their incredible semi-final in the recent Olympics! So naturally he's going to say that Delpo will be the next Best Thing! You don't think the GOAT could ever lose a Slam to some no-mark journeyman, do you? Who do you think he is....Rafa Nadal??

Seriously, Del Potro's 2009 US Open run means he will always have the potential to repeat that performance and make it to the very top IF he can remain injury-free and iron out a few mental issues. But that's a pretty big IF, especially where his physical fitness is concerned. He's yet to prove whether he can ever repeat his 2009 US Open run or whether it was just a once-in-a-lifetime, lightning-in-a bottle-type performance.

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Andy Murray: "In front of the cameras I'm a little bit shy. When the cameras are off I'm a different person."

Del Potro is the ONLY player other than Nadal who has ever beaten Federer in a Slam final and, other than Djokovic, the only player ever to beat him in his hometown tourney, Basel plus their incredible semi-final in the recent Olympics! So naturally he's going to say that Delpo will be the next Best Thing! You don't think the GOAT could ever lose a Slam to some no-mark journeyman, do you? Who do you think he is....Rafa Nadal??

Seriously, Del Potro's 2009 US Open run means he will always have the potential to repeat that performance and make it to the very top IF he can remain injury-free and iron out a few mental issues. But that's a pretty big IF, especially where his physical fitness is concerned. He's yet to prove whether he can ever repeat his 2009 US Open run or whether it was just a once-in-a-lifetime, lightning-in-a bottle-type performance.

His fitness is his biggest problem right now. I couldnt believe watching the WTF semifinal with Djokovic he seemed to get tired in the middle of the 2nd set. Doesnt bode well for his chances of winning a series of best of 5 set matches vs the top players. His RG match vs Federer was an example of a match he had nothing left after about 2.2 sets of tennis, and Federer wasnt even playing remotedly well that event either.

Del Potro is the ONLY player other than Nadal who has ever beaten Federer in a Slam final and, other than Djokovic, the only player ever to beat him in his hometown tourney, Basel plus their incredible semi-final in the recent Olympics! So naturally he's going to say that Delpo will be the next Best Thing!

IIRC, Fed called Delpo the "future number one" even before he lost to him in the USO 2009, didn't he ?

Well no, I'm not new to tennis actually since I've been following it for more than 30 years!

Quote:

Originally Posted by kOaMaster

. you have no idea.

Yes, I meant to say that no-one other than Djokovic had beaten him in a Basel final but then I discovered he lost a final to Henman in 2001 (albeit that was pre-prime Federer who also lost to Henman at Wimbledon that year). My mistake!

But hey, thanks for kindly pointing this out and setting me straight...not!

Be sure I'll remember to return the favour as soon as I can!

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Andy Murray: "In front of the cameras I'm a little bit shy. When the cameras are off I'm a different person."

Yet you wouldn't have thought so when they played that final at the USO. Federer was unusually angry and agitated and famously let rip at the umpire accusing him of allowing Del Potro to take too long to challenge calls! For a while afterwards, Federer complained that he should have won and implied that it was his own mistakes that caused him to lose it rather than Del Potro's superior play. He clearly doesn't like losing in Slam finals except to Nadal where he has had to accept him as an equal given the number of losses to him he has had to sustain at the FO!

Maybe he is mellowing with age in being more generous in his current praise of Del Potro!

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Andy Murray: "In front of the cameras I'm a little bit shy. When the cameras are off I'm a different person."